Power Provides Fireworks on Fourth of July at The Glen

Vernay Extends Firestone Indy Lights Lead with Victory in Corning 100

Will Power claimed Team Penske's first IZOD IndyCar Series victory at Watkins Glen International, winning the sixth Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen.

Series points leader Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske entry, passed his teammate Ryan Briscoe with six laps to go and held off Dario Franchitti and Briscoe for his third IZOD IndyCar Series victory of 2010.

Briscoe passed Franchitti on the final lap to help Team Penske record its first 1-2 finish since Edmonton in 2009. Brazilians Raphael Matos of de Ferran Dragon Racing and Mario Moraes of KV Racing Technology completed the top five.

In all, there were seven teams represented among the top 10 finishers in the race.

Also on July 4, French rookie J.K. Vernay strengthened his Firestone Indy Lights championship points lead with a victory in the Corning 100 at Watkins Glen International.

Vernay, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/CJ/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, overtook pole sitter James Hinchcliffe entering the "Bus Stop" on Lap 19 of the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit and went on to his third victory of the season.

Hinchcliffe, driving the No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car, finished .2135 of a second behind. Sebastian Saavedra, who won at Iowa Speedway on June 20, finished third in the No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport car.

DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:

Andretti Autosport announced today that Team IZOD driver Ryan Hunter-Reay will run the rest of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season after a group of team sponsors stepped up to fund the effort.The team also unveiled a new charitable initiative connected to Hunter-Reay's No. 37 entry called "Racing For Cancer." The program, which was developed by Tom Vossman, chief executive officer of team sponsor Inland Industrial Services Group, will raise money for cancer research and other charitable causes in honor of Hunter-Reay's mother, Lydia, who lost her battle with colon cancer in November 2009.

Hunter-Reay was originally slated to run only a partial schedule with primary sponsorship from Phillips-Van Heusen and its IZOD brand, Andretti Autosport continued to seek additional funding to grow the program to fulltime status.

In addition to the efforts of Phillips-Van Heusen and its IZOD brand, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inland, AirTran Airways, Comfort Revolution, The Michael Fux Foundation, Exel and ICM-Ethanol USA all have rallied to keep Hunter-Reay on track in 2010.

The car will continue to sport the primary sponsor scheme of Team IZOD exception for the race Aug. 28 at Chicagoland Speedway and an event to be determined, where Ethanol USA will be the primary sponsor as it was June 20 at Iowa Speedway.

The "Racing For Cancer" program launched today at www.racingforcancer.org and will raise funds during the remainder of the 2010 season and beyond. Those funds will be donated primarily to two national charities - The Michael Fux Foundation and LIVESTRONG - and will drive marketing, promotional and awareness campaigns in support of The Michael Fux Foundation and its beneficiaries.

The Michael Fux Foundation, which has donated millions of dollars through its existing charity work, champions numerous causes, including Down's Syndrome, autism, cancer and heart diseases. The foundation works extensively with Miami Children's Hospital, which last fall unveiled the new Michael Fux Family Center, and also with the Children's Cancer Caring Center and "Operation Smile," among many others. The foundation will focus the "Racing For Cancer" funds on children who are unable to afford cancer treatment, primarily in the Miami area.

As part of their support for Hunter-Reay and Team IZOD's car number "37," and in honor of Hunter-Reay's mother, a number of Andretti Autosport team sponsors have committed to making $37,000 donations to "Racing For Cancer." The first official donation to the effort was made by Team 7-Eleven driver Tony Kanaan, who is also putting forth $37,000.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: "I've never seen anything like this. So many people pulling together to make things happen. Andretti Autosport and Michael (Andretti) have bent over backward to make things work, to keep me in the car. I'll never forget that. They worked endless hours to make this work. Tom (Vossman) is like an angel out of left field that came down. You can race and honor your mom. I also have to thank Michael Fux for his personal support and making the 'Racing For Cancer' program a reality. I was really close to my mom. Super-close. For all of this to come together, it was for the right reasons. Not only does it keep a race team going, it's going to benefit the frontlines in the battle against cancer. It's just an amazing system that's come up. All of the sponsors in this amazing team have contributed to make this happen. Even the best the teammate I've ever had, Tony Kanaan, made a contribution. I've never seen anything like it, and I'm so proud at the center of it. Now to be able to just show up, go race for the rest of the season, with the same team and the same people, it's a great time."

TONY KANAAN: "It was a great idea when I heard of it. He's been such a great teammate. I lost my dad when I was 13 years old to cancer. He battled really bad for four years, and I was by his side the whole time. I can relate to Ryan. When they came up with the program, I was thrilled." (To Hunter-Reay about Kanaan's $37,000 contribution to Racing For Cancer): "I'm your sponsor now, so you better respect me. Today, do not pass me, or I will pull that sponsorship out (laughter). This race team, it's not a race team. It's a family. It's the best place to be."

CORNING 100 POST-RACE NOTES:

•This is the third career Firestone Indy Lights victory for series rookie J.K. Vernay. He also won the first two races of this season, at St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park.

•J.K. Vernay's margin of victory, .2135 of a second, was the closest of the season in Firestone Indy Lights on any type of circuit. The previous closest was .4388 of a second in the Firestone Freedom 100 in May on the oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

•This is the fourth margin of victory of less than one second in six Firestone Indy Lights races this season.

•This was the second-closest margin of victory, .2135 of a second, on a street/road course in Firestone Indy Lights history. The closest was .0758 of a second in 2007 at Watkins Glen when Wade Cunningham edged Hideki Mutoh.

•Watkins Glen has been the site of three of the five closest margins of victory on a street-road course in Firestone Indy Lights history (.0758 in 2007, .2135 in 2010, .5499 in 2009).

•Series points leader J.K. Vernay has led laps in three races this season - St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen. He won all three races.

•Winner J.K. Vernay recorded his fifth top-three finish in six starts this season. His only result off the podium came in May in the Firestone Freedom 100 at Indianapolis, where he finished 13th.

•There have been eight different winners in eight Firestone Indy Lights races at Watkins Glen since this series first ran here in 2005. There were two races each at The Glen in 2007 and 2008.

•This is the fifth consecutive top-five finish this season for James Hinchcliffe. His only finish outside of the top five came in the season opener at St. Petersburg, in which he was involved in a first-turn accident after starting from the pole.

•This is the third podium finish of the season for Sebastian Saavedra. He won on the oval at Iowa and finished third on the road course at Barber Motorsports Park.

CAMPING WORLD GRAND PRIX AT THE GLEN POST-RACE NOTES:

•Will Power became the first driver to win this event from pole. Team Penske has won the pole each of the six years this event has taken place, but this is the team's first victory in this event.

•This is the third victory of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season for Will Power. He also won the first two races of the season, at Sao Paulo and St. Petersburg.

•This is Will Power's second victory this season from pole. He also won from the top spot at St. Petersburg.

•This is Will Power's fourth career IZOD IndyCar Series victory. He has won this season at Sao Paulo, St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen. He won in 2009 at Edmonton.

•This is the first one-two finish this season for Team Penske. It's the second one-two by any team this season, as Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti finished first and second, respectively, at Kansas. The last time Team Penske finished 1-2 was in July 2009 at Edmonton, when Will Power and Helio Castroneves finished 1-2, respectively.

•This is the fourth major open-wheel victory at Watkins Glen for Team Penske. Bobby Unser won here in 1979 in 1980 and Rick Mears in 1981 for the team in CART events. This is the team's first IZOD IndyCar Series victory at this track.

•Ryan Briscoe finished second at this event for the second consecutive year.

•This was Ryan Briscoe's third podium finish this season. He won at Texas and finished third at St. Petersburg.

•Team Penske has led at least one lap in all nine IZOD IndyCar Series events this season. No other team has led in every race.

•Dario Franchitti finished third, tying a career best at Watkins Glen. He also finished third in 2005 and 2007.

•This was Dario Franchitti's fourth podium finish of the season. He won at Indianapolis, finished second at Kansas and third at Barber Motorsports Park.

•This was the 40th IZOD IndyCar Series victory for Team Penske, extending its series record.

•Raphael Matos finished fourth, tying his IZOD IndyCar Series career best also set this season at Sao Paulo.

•Mario Moraes finished a season-best fifth. His previous best was sixth at Long Beach.

•Scott Dixon finished eighth, only his second finish outside of the top six this season. He was 18th at St. Petersburg.

•The top 10 finishers today represented seven different teams.

•Takuma Sato was the top-finishing rookie today, in 15th.

•Adam Carroll finished 16th in his IZOD IndyCar Series debut.

•Tony Kanaan finished 21st, his worst result since finishing 21st in July 2009 at Edmonton.